We finished bucking the hay. We hoed the lettuce and started setting up drip irrigation on it, so it wouldn't get leaf drop (a deadly disease) from the overhead irrigation. We also left on Thursday for South Dakota to go to Grant's cousin's wedding. It was a really fun vacation, and we got back to Oregon on Sunday.

This week was tough! It was hay making week, and bucking hay is a lot of work. First, Tim mows the hay. Then he rakes it a few times over the next few days while it is drying. Then he bales it with this attachment he pulls behind the tractor that picks the hay up, packs it in bales, and ties the twine around them. Then for the bucking. Someone drives a truck with a trailer and the other people lift the bales onto the trailer. Then we have to unload the trailer and stack them into the barn. We hayed about 13 acres on two fields and got almost 1100 bales at 50-70 lbs each. That's twenty something tons that we lifted at least once! In between loads of hay, we weeded the radish for the last time. They are making seeds now, and we should be harvesting them relatively soon.
In other news, 10 more chickens got eaten one night when no one closed the coop. Poor chickens. Luckily Blindy and White Chicken, the only chickens we can tell apart from the others survived. One goat had two kids, but one died the next day. The goats and puppies are very cute and fun to watch. They have all been escaping though. So far the goats we have named are: Pepe, Fluffy, Blackbeard, Goat Mom, and Baby Goat.
We have been eating a lot of food from the garden- peas, broccoli, carrots, lettuce, spinach, and a little bok choi for stir fry. The cantaloupes, zucchini, and cucumbers all died of a fungus infection this week, so we will have to try to find some plants. We also planted 500 pots of kale for a seed crop.
Tomorrow we will be going to a class on breadmaking, composting, and tractor safety. Hopefully we will go climbing and swimming afterwards.

This week was really fun. The weather cleared up finally and got up to 90 by the end. Last Sunday, we had the weekly class at our farm. Then we went over to our neighbors' and learned how to milk goats. It was a lot fun, and we can't wait to go over to milk again and learn to make cheese. For a lot of the week, we weeded the onion field. The weeds were waist to chest high and really tough to get out. In addition to onions, we planted some flowers, moved the sheep after they had escaped 3 times in one day, watered the orchard, and took meat over to the CSA for people's weekly shares. A CSA is other times called subscription farming. People pay a certain amount at the beginning of the summer in exchange for a weekly box of fresh, in season veggies, fruits, dairy, eggs, meat, cut flowers, and whatever else the share includes. The shares are usually dropped off at a point that is convenient for the customers. It's a way for people to get fresh food and for them to share a little of the risk of growing food, so the farmer gets a descent return for their labor. On Friday was the major excitement. The goats came! 15 nannies including some pregnant ones and 3 month old puppies. The puppies are guard dogs and are Pyranesse and Anatolian mix. They are going to be huge. We have to play with the puppies and give them lots of attention, oh darn. The goats are cute too. One little one has already gotten a little used to us, and comes up to get pet. We named her Pepe. So, after getting their pen set up with fence, water, and minerals, they came. In between playing with the dogs, we electrified the chicken fense (2 chickens were eaten this week), baby sat the kids, and started hoeing the radishes. Today we will be going climbing and to a friend's birthday movie watching. Tomorrow, we will hopefully finish the yurt platform, go to a botany class, and hopefully milk again! I hope everyone else's week was good. I'm still waiting for other people to send pictures! There are quite a few from this week.

Denny- It's good to hear from you. Your life sounded hectic. I hope your head is feeling better. To answer your questions- The "happy mother's day" was radishes that we pulled out because we had to thin them, so the ones left have enough room. Yes, Grant is trimming the sheep hoof. They are hair sheep, so they shed their wool without having to be sheared.
Another week of rainy weather in Oregon. This week involved a lot of weeding and planing. We weeded the lettuce crop and started on the peas and carrots of the home garden. We also planted ~60 tomatoes, 200 tomatillos, 200 basils, 40 eggplants, 700 squash, and a field of corn called Black Aztec. We also had a some construction experience by finishing the bracing on the yurt deck and building a trellis for the peas. Since I smashed a finger with a hammer, and typing is not pleasant, that's all for now.